Is it Spring yet?

Hi everyone!

 I can't wait for Springtime to get here!

So I thought I would make a spring themed creation - but with nothing in the garden here yet to inspire me - I went a bit grungy instead!

I started with a piece of mount board and painted some Decoart Media Gesso over it as a base. I applied it quite thickly, making sure brushstrokes could be seen and that they all were going in the same direction...The intention was to make the base look like a wood effect....

 Then I applied some Decoart Media Crackle paste through a TH Lattice Stencil. At the edges of the stencil I scraped some more paste, randomly dabbing or wiping it down the edges of the board

When this was dry I mixed some Carbon Black and Raw Umber Decoart Antiquing cream together and applied this all over. I love both colours but I find the Raw Umber a bit too pale at times and the Carbon Black too grungey...so here I was going for a soft black instead and gained the best of both colours.

When dry I wiped it away with a damp cloth. I prefer to use a cloth spritzed with water as then you are able to remove the excess gradually - I find a baby wipe can wipe a bit too efficiently and before you realise it there is barely any effect left!

The cream stayed in all the crevices of the stencil and highlighted the gesso brush streaks perfectly....

The crackle paste gives such a wonderful effect...and is perfect to apply through a stencil...

I wanted to capture the effect of some garden furniture left to the elements...so a peeling paint/rust/weathered look..... 

So around the edges I began to dab some Decoart Media Texture Paste. When dry I painted over it with Paynes Grey Decoart Media Fluid Arcylic Paint mixed with white acrylic paint. Then I gave this a wash of Paynes Grey and then a coat of Qinacridone Gold. I wanted an even more aged effect, so I covered it with Patina Green Antiquing Cream before wiping away - leaving a tinge of Patina on the rust.

After this was done the whole hanging got a coat of Ultra Matte Decoart Varnish - which lives up to it's name - it gives a totally matte coating and removes any sheen from the paint...this makes the rust even more effective

I decided to put the word 'Spring' on the hanging and used some letters from a TH paper pad.

The flowers were from the Tattered Floral die cut set and I cut several sizes, then I got to work making them up...

This one was made by bathing the flowers in a wash of Squeezed Lemonade DI mixed with water. Then the larger flower was dabbed with some Scattered Straw DI before both flowers were 'grunged up' with a smudge of Pumice Stone DI.

The center of the flower was a metal brad coated in gesso, followed by a coat of yellow acrylic paint before having a bit of Rock Candy Distress Glitter sprinkled over.

This flower was dabbed with Tattered Rose and Pumice Stone DI. A blob of Decoart Liquid glass was squeezed into the center of the flower before having some Tea Dye Distress embossing powder sprinkled over the top.

 This flower was covered with Shaded Lilac and Pumice Stone DI. A blob of Decoart Liquid Glass was squeezed into the center and when dry it was dabbed with a bit of Decoart Media Titian Buff Acrylic paint

This daisy effect flower was left uncoloured except for dabbing around the edge with Worn Lipstick DI. The center was made by the same way as the first flower...

The leaves were bathed in Shabby Shutters DS and when dry the large leaves were coated with Decoart One Step crackle glaze. When this was dry I dabbed the leaves with Gathered Twigs DI

Just to finish it off I added some chit chat stickers 

 And added rusty wire to make the hanger

And there is my (Grungy) Spring Hanger

Thanks so much for being here today!

Happy Crafting!

Laura

xxxxxxx

Rust No.1

Hi everyone! 

    

 Here is the first follow up post to Adventures in Rust....

In that post I featured five rust pieces that I was going to make into creations to feature here.

The first one was the Rust background....

....and here is what I made

I decided to concentrate on the yellow tones in the rust (even though they are eventually covered up)

I started by cutting a heart shape from card and covering it with Decoart Media Crackle Paste. When this was dry I covered it with a wash of Decoart Media Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide acrylic paint. This was then dry brushed with Quinacridone Gold and Burnt Umber. When the heart was dry it was rubbed with a sanding block.

 I used a Found Relatives Photo for the collage and cut the people out and stuck them onto the heart with a ruler from the Salvage stickers set.

 I added a brass flower with some die cut leaves that had been inked with Brushed Corduroy DI and stamped with Jet Black Archival ink using a script stamp

 

A calendar months was added along with a filigree brass decoration

A brass key was added to the collage

Several brass buttons were added

A brass hinge was used as decoration

I added more hinges to the top of the collage 

And there is my finished collage....

The next rust creation will be this one....hope you will come back to see what I made with it....

Thanks so much for being here!

Happy crafting!

Laura xxxx

Flaming June

Hello everyone!

Here we are halfway through the year already! Where does the time go?!

   It isn't exactly summer yet - while I type this it is raining outside, yet again!....but never mind! - over at Our Creative Corner we are in a 'Flaming' mood....taking inspiration from the painting 'Flaming June' and our thoughts are on the bright warm orange tones used in this wonderful painting.....

         Julia chose this challenge for us and she would like you to use the picture as inspiration and create a project which features rich orange tones as the main colour of your work. You may use other details from the image if you wish.

      I don't use the colour orange much in my work - not that I don't like it - I love using orange inks for the Autumn and Halloween work, but it isn't my colour of choice usually - so it was a treat to be encouraged by our lovely Julia to go out of my comfort zone and work with a brighter colour than usual.

     This month I decided to make a tag - one of my favourite things to make. And I began by stencilling some leaves with Picket Fence DP.

I then did some wrinkle free distress using Tea Dye, Spiced Marmalade and Scattered Straw DI's.


  After drying this I stenciled using Rusty Hinge DI - using a letters stencil and a splatter stencil

Then I stamped some script and flourish stamps with Potting Soil Archival ink.

The frame was covered in crackle paste and when dry it was dabbed with Chocolate Pudding and French Roast Fresco Paint before having some White fire treasure gold rubbed over it.

The flowers were originally painted turquoise which I thought would give a nice contrast to the orange, but instead it became too much of a distraction, so I covered the flowers with gesso and then when that was dry I covered them with Spiced Marmalade DS.

While wet I sprinkled them with clear embossing powder and melted it giving the flowers an enameled effect.

The center of the frame was covered in a mix of Spiced Marmalade and Rusty Hinge DI and stamped with a script stamp in Potting Soil Archival ink

A photo was cut into a matching oval and attached to the center of the frame

 A quote from an Artistic Outpost set was used on an extra piece of card used to mop up the original wrinkle free distress ink leftovers.

I attached it to the tag so it didn't lay flat.

An ornate brass button is attached to the top of the tag along with was curled rusty wire

        We would love to see your orange themed creations over at Our Creative Corner this month! Come along and dive in!....You could be our winner and find yourself in the warmth of the Top Talent Spotlight! You could be one of our wonderful Top 3 and even find yourself the lucky winner of a prize donated by Tando Creative who are kindly sponsoring us this month!

Thank you so much for being here!

Come fly with me

Hi everyone,

     It is my turn to choose a challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges this time and I chose.......

Flying

My reason for choosing this is because my son is crazy about anything that flies, and recently he said to me that I never make anything for him! So this time I set out to make something just for him - After asking him what colours he would like, I chose a Flonzcraft stamp set and decided to make a hanging mobile for him.

I swirled some Festive Berries and Salty Ocean DS onto the craft mat and spritzed with water and swirled some card through the stain. When dried, I added Fired Brick and Faded Jeans DI around the edges and did some spritz and flick with water to add some texture effects to the coloured card. I did this to both sides of the card.

I then stamped the images onto the card and cut them out, inking around the edges with Black Soot DI so that the white cut edges wouldn't show up. I then stamped onto tissue paper and glued this to the back of the back of the cut outs with multi medium.

I then decorated the cut outs (original stamped side) with Perfect Pearls in Platinum Pearl and Onyx Pearl.

   The heart was cut out from a sheet of balsa wood and then painted with French Roast Fresco Paint and then covered in Decoart Media crackle paste. When dry it was dabbed and sprayed with various paints and inks (I lost track of what I used) and the heat gun was used which created a lovely textured bubble effect - I always love seeing what the heat gun will do to products I haven't tried before!

 

 Chit chat stickers were edged in Faded Jeans DI and stuck onto the heart.

Then onto constructing the mobile - I twisted a circle of rusty wire and added a loop to it and stuck the heart onto it. I used plastic wire to construct the mobile which really wasn't the best thing when it came to wanting to see them all hang the right way around for the photograph!

I attached the plastic string to the rusty loop by tying it and attached it to each of the decorations with glue and tissue tape.

     

Why not come over and join us this time at Fashionable Stamping Challenges

 Remember we are a stamping challenge so please feature a stamped focal image on your creation.

  You could be the winner of $20 to spend at Flonzcraft Stamps! And of course you could be picked at one of our Catwalk Spotlights!